TreeWiFi displayed as part of the Amsterdam Museum

· Blog

Two years ago we developed the TreeWiFi concept - a birdhouse that measures air pollution and rewards citizens with free WiFi when the air in a neighbourhood becomes cleaner. In the picture above, you can see some of the early prototypes behind the development of this little birdhouse.

This little birdhouse and big idea travelled the world to inspire people to think about air pollution and engage with the issue of urban air quality. Furthermore, it made people think about what they can do in their neighbourhood to contribute to a cleaner and healthier environment.

Two of the largest issues with air quality are public engagement and visualising the pollution problem. As local, national and international media reports constantly remind us, air quality is becoming an increasingly bigger and more important problem.

Because of this, we worked on the TreeWiFi concept with multinational companies, such as T-Mobile and Vodafone, that are looking to make a large-scale positive impact. ULTRA IoT’s TreeWiFi concept was featured in events such as Google Singularity, The Next Web and TEDx in Naples. TreeWiFi also received press coverage from all over the world, including El Pais, CNN, The Guardian, Wired and many others.

Last week TreeWiFi and the idea behind it found a permanent place in the Amsterdam Museum, a perfectly fitting place as Amsterdam is the city where the idea was born and initially deployed. The Amsterdam Museum has recently opened a new experience lab for children of all ages to explore and prototype smart, inclusive ideas for the future of the city they live in.

As part of the permanent collection and curriculum to stimulate kids' creativity, TreeWiFi was acquired by the museum and placed in the collection. If you get a chance, we recommend you check it out. You will also find many other innovative and cool ideas that will make our cities smarter.

We're very proud to be part of this collection and it has further inspired us to keep driving the TreeWiFi concept forward. We have some exciting things in the pipeline regarding TreeWiFi. We are now working towards a second version that will further enable people, cities, schools and many others to use it even more effectively!

If you would like a smart birdhouse that accurately measures and displays current air pollution levels for your balcony, garden, office, school or even just the nearest tree to you, drop us a line here!